Kai Trump had a rough time at the Sage Valley Junior Invitational and finished the tournament with a monster score. The daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump is a highly-ranked high school golfer but she did not bring her A-game to the event in South Carolina this week.
Attending one of the most prestigious junior golf events in the country, Trump will have been keen to put on a good show. But she started badly with a 17-over round of 89, posted a seven-over 79 in the second round, an 11-over 83 in the third and another torrid 17-over 89 to cap things off.
With an overall score of +52, Trump finished dead last out of the 24 female competitors, miles further back than anyone else. The 17-year-old recently signed a lucrative sponsorship deal with TaylorMade and has committed to playing college golf at the University of Miami once she finishes high school in Florida.
But the Sage Valley Junior Invitational may have been a sobering wake-up call about what it takes to go pro.
For the boys, 16-year-old Miles Russell clinched an impressive overall win by finishing nine-under for the tournament. Along with Trump, Tiger Woods’ son Charlie was another high-profile entrant, though he fared better than the President’s granddaughter.
Woods’ score of 11-over still left him a long way short of Russell, however, and he ended up tied for 25th out of 36 players. Woods and Trump now have a connection off the course, as 15-time major champion Tiger is reportedly dating Kai’s mother, Vanessa. Neither of them were spotted at the event in South Carolina.
The father and son combination of Tiger and Charlie teamed up for the PNC Championship last year, with Woods Jr. notching a hole-in-one. They finished second, but golf legend Woods believes his son could go a long way in the sport.
“He has gotten better at every facet of the game,” he said. “That’s a commitment to practicing and developing as a player. I think that most of us forget he’s only 15 years old [now 16].
“I know he’s been doing this in front of the media for a long time but, being only 15, I think it’s incredible what he’s been able to accomplish so far and the ceiling that he has is unlimited.”
